Pittsburgh Toilet: A fully. A Pittsburgh toilet A Pittsburgh toilet, or Pittsburgh potty, is a basement toilet found in some single-family houses in Pittsburgh and other parts of the United States. It consists of an ordinary flush toilet with no surrounding walls.
[1] This toilet is often next to other bathroom and laundry room plumbing fixtures, such as a crude shower, a large sink, and a washing machine. Early 20th century homes in Pittsburgh and other northeastern cities have a feature that's long been the butt of jokes: a lone toilet in the basement. "I think it may just be that the mythology in Pittsburgh is so strong that it made its way into the lexicon," Martin said.
So if you have a toilet in your basement, consider it a fun piece of history. Standing proud yet alone, a toilet sitting in an unfinished basement was once a common sight in houses across America. Stand-alone basement toilets do still exist, sometimes placed in a corner or inside a long wall, or, even more awkwardly, right in the middle of the basement.
You may even have heard these toilets referred to as "Pittsburgh potties," prompting you to wonder. A Pittsburgh toilet, or Pittsburgh potty, is a common fixture in pre-World War II houses built in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and surrounding region. It consists of an ordinary flush toilet installed in the basement, with no surrounding walls.
We just purchased a house in Central Pennsylvania that has a convenient toilet hanging out in the basement called a Pittsburgh potty according to my coworkers. There's a 32x20 concrete shower basin plumbed with water to ceiling and handles and a nice opening under the stairs. The history of Pittsburgh is full of interesting facts and hometown tidbits.
This is one for the scholars. Here are three stories that give an honest and revealing look into the basement toilet, an attraction that is common to most older homes in this area. Apparently, it is a unique local rest stop, and it has an official designation.
It is called the Pittsburgh Potty! Pittsburgh Potty: A lonely [stand alone] toilet that is in an old basement [in the corner] of a room or laundry area with no walls around it, thus open for. Pittsburgh potty (plural Pittsburgh potties) (Western Pennsylvania) A lone toilet, typically situated in the middle of a basement, without the amenities or privacy of a typical bathroom.